Text Edit, energy, stickers.

Tue 19 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

For anyone fed up with how slow Word can be, Jed Berry pointed us to this handy text editor: a modified version of TextEdit. Get the Ogre Kit extras too, set the preferences, and off we go.

Futurismic points to good energy news:

Since 2000, global wind energy generation has more than tripled; solar cell production has risen six-fold; production of fuel ethanol from crops have more than doubled; and biodiesel production has expanded nearly four-fold. Annual global investment in “new” renewable energy has risen almost six-fold since 1995, with cumulative investment over this period nearly $180 billion.

Cafe Press updates (very irregular):


Catch up time

Mon 18 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Thoughtful and excellent review of Skinny Dipping:

“An impressive and darkly humorous debut collection—well worth every baby sacrificed in the making.” — Diagram

Calendar: Kelly is on the west coast this week and Ellen Kushner reads at KGB in NYC on Wednesday.

Exciting travel news: Kelly will be going to Italy in December to take part in the Turin Rome World Book Capital Program. She’ll be reading or doing events in Turin, Milan, and Rome. This is in between two other events, the small/indie press Book Fair in New York City on Dec 1/2 (that’s 1st & 2nd, not 0.5) and something else, but there’s enough time, a week or so, to go see some Old Stuff. Constantine’s finger, here we come!

This is due to the fantastic job Donzelli has done with Stranger Things Happen. We received some PDF pages of an Italian mag article on Kelly and the book—the piece had some great art in it so at some point we hope to get them on here. In the meantime, a little Italian blog love.

From our newsletter thing: Aunt Gwenda’s been handing out pithy advice for a while now. Aren’t you in need? Send us your question to info@lcrw.net (include your address and with luck we’ll send you the ish of LCRW your question appears in). That could be LCRW 19, which will be the 10th anniversary issue. Perhaps the last if we think too deeply about that. But Zine World just said this about #17, so maybe we will keep going: “This treasury of fiction is a feast of mystery, novelty, and desire.” Send Aunty G. a Q!

Clarion move FAQ.

We’d love to hear from any teachers or professors or whomever using Small Beer books in classrooms or any kind of teaching use. We want to send some catalogs out to other people who could be doing the same thing so maybe you can help us use the right language?


This Corrosion

Mon 18 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

2 AM videos: Ok Go. Best use of exercise machines, best choreography. (Thanks Meghan!).

Then there are so many crowd (and regular) videos on YouTube that 2 can easily become 4 (AM). Thanks to everyone who ever sneaked a decent video camera into a concert. Watching a lot of bands whose videos never made it onto Top of the Pops, Old Grey Whistle Test, and whatever other few places to see them there were in a non-MTV land or digging into the past of bands only later learned to love.

Sisters of Mercy. An appropriate slight case of overbombing: Dominion (any excuse to play around in the desert), 1959, Lucretia, My Reflection (begin with the bass), Still in Hollywood, Concrete Blonde. (So young! So much fun. Still a great video. Still don’t know all the words, sorry Gwenda.) Have to check out Catfish Scar, Johnette’s new band. (in its year of release it has to be danced to at least once per week), Possession, Heartland—this tape does indeed contain “a portion of Jolene“. Knocking on Heaven’s Door.

Few others: Still in Hollywood, Concrete Blonde. (So young! So much fun. Still a great video. Still don’t know all the words, sorry Gwenda.) Have to check out Catfish Scar, Johnette’s new band.

Tinariwen! Hipsway.
Also this:

  Tiptree radio drama; “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” — Max Schmid guest host

Thanks to Jim Freund for the link—which will be live for 10 more days or so.

Some other time: more embarrassing bands, more embarrassing hair cuts.


Good stuff, cheap

Wed 13 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Ok, so some of it is great stuff, so sue us for the emotional distress of reading that Gene Wolfe’s books are good, not great. We believe you. We sympathize. We’d like to talk about it over tea, though, and think that mediation is appropriate here, instead of legal action.

Anyway, lookee here: 2006 Clarion SF eBay Auction Sept. 10 – Oct. 8. See the stuff or get straight to the bidding. Q? A. Chocolaty subscription to LCRW and naming rights to character in a Jim Kelly or Kelly Link story available. Huh. Must go bid!
All proceeds directly benefit the Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers’ Workshop at UCSD.

UCSD? Yup. Clarion East just became Where in the World is Carmen San Deigo.

Our mole (we have links everywhere) tells us the Foundation (a scary group of powerful backroom figures or an all volunteer board, you decide) spent a year talking to schools around the country and UCSD was the most enthusiastic and put together the best long-term package. Bummer to leave Michigan: it was hot, the food was college food, but everyone worked hard and the workshop was successful. Hope San Diego has a botanical garden near the dorms.
Clarion’s survival, being there for writers, is what all the Clarion workshops are about. Clarion West in Seattle is an amazing thing. Clarion South, the Australian edition, is every two years to best fit their needs. Clarion East becoming SD (or whatever) is pretty shocking but, like the move Clarion took from Pennsylvania to New Orleans(!) then to Michigan, it has to go where it must. 2007 instructors are: Gregory Frost Mary Anne Mohanraj, Jeff VanderMeer, Cory Doctorow, Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman.


James Tiptree. Jr.’s letter to Carol Emshwiller

Mon 11 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Recently we got the chance (you know, dark alleys, anonymous meetings in bars, dead letter boxes, the usual routine) to buy a letter to Carol Emshwiller from James Tiptree. Jr., aka Alice Sheldon (whose bio, by Julie Phillips, is burning up the book charts). Carol never replied but she kept writing and now has quite a few books out, including The Mount, Report to the Men’s Club, and Carmen Dog.

It’s a fantastic letter: over-the-top, enthusiastic, coffee-stained—although whose that is and when it happened is unknown.

We forged some ownership papers and caravaned it safely out of the country to our cold storage facility in the Arctic where it’s got a whole ice-cavern of its own.

But that didn’t seem quite right, so we’ve put up a low-resolution scan. This is how it starts:

24 May 75

Dear Carol Emshwiller:

May a stranger make known how much your book, JOY IN OUR CAUSE has been enjoyed? Weak word, meant to include admired, goggled at, occasionally genuflected to, been rivetted in entrancement by, and, not least, suffered suicidal inferiority-convictions from.

Read on


Local girl makes good

Sat 9 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Thunderstorms. Lightning. The captain put the Small Beer HQ into dive mode and made it under the Connecticut River before we were hit. Phew.

Our local paper, The Daily Hampshire Gazette (which just became a morning paper after being an afternoon paper for about 450 years) did a feature on a certain (now-)local writer. Fantastic. Someone stopped Kelly at the grocery store and said, “I just read about you in the paper!” The editor also gave Kelly a chance to recommend some recent books, so, inveterate bookseller that she still wishes she were, she quickly rattled off half-a-dozen favorites:

  • Half Life by Shelley Jackson
    Recommended to anyone who loved Geek Love’‘ or ever suffered from a bad case of sibling rivalry.Feed by M. T. Anderson
    A young adult novel set in the near future which ought to appeal to adult readers of George Saunders.”Archer’s Goon” by Diana Wynne Jones
    Another young adult novel by a writer I wish everyone would read. Funnier than J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, but just as magical. And shorter!

    20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
    A fantastic collection of short stories put out by a small British press. Hard to find, but well worth tracking down. (I usually start with www.bookfinder.com.)

    Liquor by Poppy Brite
    The first book in an addictive mystery series about two chefs who start their own restaurant. Recommended to fans of Anthony Bourdain and Jeffrey Steingarten.

    James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips
    A page-turner of a biography about a writer whose life was much, much stranger than most works of fiction could ever be.

    I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
    A coming-of-age novel about a young writer growing up in a falling-down castle. Recommended to anyone who has ever wanted to write.

There’s also a sidebar on Small Beer Press just in case you don’t know why we are here. We don’t. We get lost wondering about what’s on the other side of infinity and what happens when you go left through a red turn light, and how they make those see-through internet tubes they use for the wireless signal.

In other news, Hem have a new CD out. Get pianodelic.


Edge of Darkness

Thu 7 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Mid-1980s, the ‘star wars’ defense, the women’s camp outside Greenham Common, Northern Ireland a quagmire, Joanne Whalley, Joe Don Baker, the late Bob Peck, slippery backroom government wallahs hand-in-hand with the industries they’re meant to regulate, the miners strike, Bloody Thatcher, ghosts…. All of this was put together in Edge of Darkness (Imdb) a thoughtful, deep BBC thriller that 20 years later still stands as one of the best series ever made.
Thanks to a certain plugged-in zinester for reminding me to go see if it was available yet. It’s now available in the UK and at some point should be released in the US.


Small Beer Readings Calendar

Wed 6 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Just embedded a new Google Calendar on our events page. Here’s a direct link. You can subscribe to the calendar—which means it adds our calendar to yours. We’ve set up a bunch of these calendars so that we can look at a glance at what fruit we’re supposed to be picking, wo the Scottish football team is playing, where the moon is (says “in the sky” every day), and so on. Very handy.

We’ll probably just flip all the Readings links on the site to the calendar page and maybe someday make different calendars for each author (or, maybe they will make their own!). Although that sounds like work, especially since the G.Calendar page has a search function.

So far we’ve only added a Federal holidays calendar, since they keep creeping up on us unexpectedly: banks and bakeries close and we have no idea why…. Will go looking at what is else is public—or feel free to point us toward interesting ones.


Reasons to be mostly cheerful!

Tue 5 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

It’s publication day for the paperback edition of Kelly Link’s second collection, Magic for Beginners. We should have pix to post from out there in Bookland, but as yet they cling to the phone and won’t let go. Babies! We will snap their little bonds and free their souls onto the internet. Soon, yet.

This is (maybe?) Kelly’s first book not published by Small Beer Press—it’s from Harcourt!—and although she is not here and cannot be directly quoted the minions have decided that She is Pleased with not only the book, but also the awesome tour (which should be updated soon to include Prairie Lights and some other places), the cover remix, and, in fact and let it be said with whole hearts, Everything.

Another pub date (the happiest of dates, those pub dates?): Changeling by Delia Sherman! This is Delia’s first young adult book and it clangs along at a great pace around New York City (mais oui, you see, it was where she grew up!). Great fun, great.
Soon to come: pictures of Ellen Kushner’s beautiful hardcover (get them here), anthologies, news about next year (which, mavens that you are, you mostly know already), updates on all the things we have yet to do (workwise, sweetie, workwise), and a rain of live frogs lifted from our pond and delivered to you, dear reader.

—

A reason not to be cheerful about convention going.

Alan’s coming from another dimension again.


Still looking forward to the future

Sun 3 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Gotta give H.E.(TM) his props for getting the word out that the world it is a-changing. By pulling what women have to face in private up onto the stage at the Hugo Awards, he gave the whole world a chance to consider what is and isn’t appropriate behavior in public and private.

For the price of public censure from those running the awards, H.E. (TM) has pried open a fantastic can of worms long needing opened.

This discussion has often previously run aground because each incident (aka “an anecdote” as how could the incident be proven to those who were not there?) was in private. Now, with everyone able to watch, a wide-ranging discussion is possible. Will this lead to adults behaving as John Klima hopes? Perhaps. At least interesting discussions, and — shock, horror — old dogs learning new tricks.

And David Moles shining like a star.

Questions abound on and off the net (Colleen, Christopher, etc.) and then there’s the beginnings of a better world, 2 conversations: Derryl Murphy on what SFWA can do for the community and the individual and the Bellwether discussion group.


What else is going on?

Fri 1 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Alex Wilson recorded “The Girl Detective” — available free.
The Village Voice dumbs itself down some more by firing good people.

Theodora Goss pointed us toward a couple of fascinating artists among them Robert ParkeHarrison and Connie Toebe.

We have a pretty hardcover and we’re maybe going to start sending it out and post pictures and make pretty piles of them and hold them and call them George. Or The Privilege of the Sword.

We’ve been signing contracts and making covers for next year’s books. Wooee! Whatta week. More surprising news on that end sometime soon.

We haven’t been reading LCRW submissions very fast. Sorry about that.

One of our fantastic interns just left, bye Lauren! We miss you. Come back and work for free any time! (Evil R Us.)

In other news: it’s not about Harlan Ellison, it’s the culture. Harlan can get as head-explodey as he wants and his apologists can do what they feel they must, and in the meantime how about a new simple rule: keep your hands to yourself.

Unless you ask or are asked. Or, act like an adult and treat others as you would be treated? How simple can the formulation be? Anyone who can write it in less than 6 words wins something silly.


The Privilege of the Sword

Fri 1 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Books| Posted by: Gavin

A witty, wicked coming-of-age story of a girl who loses all her privileges except one… The Privilege of the Sword.

  • Locus Award Winner
  • Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award Winner
  • Greenman Review Best Adult Novel
  • Lambda Literary Awards Nominee
  • Spectrum Award Nominee
  • Cybil Award Nominee
  • Tiptree Honor List
  • Nebula Award finalist

Our limited edition hardcover of Ellen Kushner’s novel complements Bantam’s simultaneous trade paperback edition.The Privilege of the Sword is a novel of love, betrayal, scandal, and secrets. Set between Kushner’s previous novel, Swordspoint, and her collaboration with Delia Sherman, The Fall of the Kings, Privilege is a marvelous tale crackling with energy, wit, and wonders.

In a labyrinthine city full of intrigue, secrets, and scoundrels, in the Riverside district where society’s rules only loosely apply, Katherine, the niece of Alec Campion, Duke Tremontaine, dreams of a life of ladylike privilege. But — Katherine’s uncle is not called the Mad Duke for nothing. Her dreams crash down to earth when she discovers that her uncle wants an entirely different life for her.

The Mad Duke wants to turn her into something unique, something the city has never seen before: a woman who can fight her own battles, a swordswoman.

However, even the Mad Duke doesn’t realize what giving that power to a young girl will mean.

Epigraphs

Small pow’r the word has,
And can afford us
Not half so much privilege as
The sword does.
— Anon., “The Dominion of the Sword” (1658)

If the old fantastical Duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived…. The Duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered.
— Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, IV.iii; III.ii

All the same, he had no manners then, and he has no manners now, and he never will have any manners.
— Rudyard Kipling, “How the Rhinoceros Got his Skin”

“What a gruesome way to treat one’s niece [!]”
— James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks

Reviews

* “This novel introduces a fearless and resourceful heroine with a true heart and a keen-edged blade. Spiced with humor and spot-on period detail, this coming-of-age tale belongs in most fantasy and YA collections.”
— Library Journal (Starred Review)

Click cover for larger image.

Advance Readers say:

“Unholy fun, and wholly fun . . . an elegant riposte, dazzlingly executed.”
–Gregory Maguire, Wicked

“Splendid — a swashbuckler for women! Katherine is everything I love in a female hero: Impudent, lively, idealistic, fierce, and in over her head.”
–Tamora Pierce, Trickster’s Choice

“One of the most gorgeous books I’ve ever read: it’s witty and wonderful, with characters that will provoke, charm and delight.”
— Holly Black (Tithe)

“A magical mixture of Dumas and Georgette Heyer. The dialogue dazzles and so does the swordplay.”
— Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners)

The Privilege of the Sword

Chapter One

No one sends for a niece they’ve never seen before just to annoy her family and ruin her life. That, at least, is what I thought. This was before I had ever been to the city. I had never been in a duel, or held a sword myself. I had never kissed anyone, or had anyone try to kill me, or worn a velvet cloak. I had certainly never met my Uncle the Mad Duke. Once I met him, much was explained.

* * *

Chapter Two

“You have no use for girls. You told me so yourself.”

In a fine room in the Mad Duke Tremontaine’s house on the Hill, a fat and messy young woman sprawled on a velvet chaise-longue, one hand buried in a bowl of summer strawberries. Across the room, the Mad Duke examined the back of his chimneypiece for cracks. “Utter incompetents,” he grumbled. “They wouldn’t know wood-bore from a tick on their dog’s ass.”

She stuck to the subject. “Neither would girls.”

“I do have no use for girls. Not that way; not with ones I’m related to, anyway.” He popped out of the fireplace to leer briefly, but getting no response went back and continued, “You should be grateful. Or, as the only respectable female of my acquaintance, you are the one I would have to impose upon to escort my niece to dances and things when she gets here.”

The homely woman, whose name was Flavia, but whom everyone thought of as That Ugly Girl of the Duke’s, put a large berry in her mouth, wiped her fingers on the velvet of the chaise, and talked around it. “What crap. Any titled lady whose husband owes you money would be delighted to take your niece in hand, if only to show you how it’s done properly and try to instill some gratitude in you.” She licked juice off her lips. “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you: why do you talk so much, when half of what you say is utter crap?”

“To keep you on your toes,” he answered promptly. “How would you like it if everything I said suddenly started making sense? It would only confuse you.”

The Riverside Series:

Although The Privilege of the Sword stands by itself as a self-contained novel, it is also the third book in what has become known as “The Riverside Series.” The titles thus far are:

  • Swordspoint
  • The Privilege of the Sword (set ca. 20 years later)
  • The Fall of the Kings (with Delia Sherman; set ca. 40 years after Privilege, 60 after Swordspoint)

Ellen has a chronology and a little more info the books here.

On the web:

Credits

  • Cover images © Corbis: Detail Showing Hand on Ornate Sword Hilt from “Portrait of Charles IX of France” by Francois Clouet.
  • Download cover for print.
  • Download author photo for print.Author photo credit: Michael Benveniste/MCFI

Extraordinary praise for Ellen Kushner’s previous books:

“At once traditional and bold…Richly imagined scenes of Faerie, elegant and incongruous as the films of Cocteau.” — Locus

“Immensely appealing, intelligent, and great fun.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Gives every indication of having been conceived and executed in joy and delight.” — Rachel Manija Brown, Green Man Review

“A tour-de-force.” — Terri Windling

“A virtual treat for all the senses … for those who like their fantasy soaked in intrigue, history and romance … One of the bawdiest and most intellectually stimulating novels of the year!” — Bookpage

“Kushner and Sherman return to the sophisticated urban world of Kushner’s Swordspoint 60 years later, as the city is overset by research into the past that unearths dangerous old magic and political unrest. A powerful fantasy that rises above the crowd with a vivid setting, complex characters, and elegant prose.” — Locus Notable Book

“A high-fantasy novel of rare quality, in which the richly detailed world building leaps out and seizes the reader…Literate, absorbing, and with bite to it, the book shows that Kushner and Sherman together are quite up to the standards of either on her own.” — Booklist

“This dynamic tale of the twin powers of love and scholarship offers a glimpse into the connection between learning and politics while portraying the lives of individuals poised on the border of myth and reality…a sensual and evocative tale that should appeal to fans of Tanith Lee and Storm Constantine. Highly recommended.” — Library Journal

“Layered and complex … mature, adventurous, witty and deep… the book’s biggest strength is in the complex understanding that Kushner and Sherman show for human relations on both a small and large scale. They’re not afraid to let their characters make real, human mistakes, and not afraid to show the results of both good and bad decisions … It’s clear from the tale of wonder, pain and hope between the covers that magic is alive in our world too.” — Lambda Book Report

“By avoiding cliched settings and plot so deftly, the authors tap into fantasy’s genuine source of drama, its ability to haunt, appall, transform.” — Locus

“The complex interplay of the characters is a delight in itself, and the authors have accomplished the most difficult task in fantasy — they have created a world of magic that feels authentic. Here’s a fantasy novel that won’t insult your intelligence, and which almost demands re-reading to catch all the nuances you miss the first time.” — Science Fiction Chronicle

“Embraces the age-old struggle between scholars and mystics … to bridge the gulf that separates history from mystery … The interactions between the characters echo the works of Dorothy Dunnett…St. Cloud, Campion, and the rest of the cast walk through the pages of this novel with style and wit, larger than life — and full of life.” — Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

“Here’s one for fantasy lovers who are tired of quests and faux medievalism…elegant…Kushner and Sherman create a multi-layered urban fantasy world, full of quirky characters and perceptively drawn settings…the plot is worthy of the characters in its convolution and sophistication. In short, a book for readers who enjoy subtlety and craftsmanship along with a full quota of magic and adventure.” — Asimov’s

“A collaboration evocative of Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer, Kushner and Sherman deliver their “comedy of academic manners” with panache.” — Romantic Times

“The Fall of the Kings is a glorious re-envisioning of magic and academia — more precisely, of the magic of academia…a rare treasure, a seamless collaboration. The two authors have created a shared fantasy that is enhanced by the styles and ideas of both, without being overwhlemed by either.” — The New York Review of Science Fiction

“A definite winner…political subterfuge mixed with strong mythic overtones.” — Mythprint

“This book is stunning. It has all of the rich fantastic tapestry of Swordspoint, and more depth, more wonder and truth and humanity; and, of course, lots of parties and handsome men and costumes and scheming and cutting remarks and intimate little dinners and lots and lots of sex. If Oscar Wilde were writing high fantasy, he’d want to write The Fall of the Kings.” — Sarah Smith

“Gorgeous prose and a galloping story, with a wickedly funny appreciation for academic knifefights, and a deep understanding of a true scholar’s passion for his subject.” — Mary Doria Russell

“A charmed, witty romp through an alternate history’s history, full of appealing characters and enough mystery to keep me turning pages … A very intelligent novel, skillfully written by two writers from whom I’ve come to expect the best.” — Patricia McKillip

“Considering the splendid talents of Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman when writing under their individual by-lines, it’s really no surprise that The Fall of the Kings is the treat it is. Engaging characters, with their sharp dialogue and complex relationships, and a wonderfully-realized setting combine here for one of my favourite books this year — and so far it’s already been a very good year.” — Charles de Lint

“Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman combine their talents to fine effect in The Fall of the Kings, pulling off the considerable trick of making elegant prose seem effortless. The characters are as vivid, complex and varied as the milieu in which they operate, and the contrast inherent in the reemergence of a deep-rooted, archetypal magic into an elaborately mannered society is piquant and compelling. I hope further collaborations are in store!” — Jacqueline Carey

“I tore into The Fall of the Kings with the enthusiasm of an emigrant allowed to make a sudden, unexpected trip home. Not the least of its considerable rewards is the admirably compacted density of that particular space-time invention, the other world. Kushner and Sherman don’t spin fables or knit fancies: they are world-forgers, working in a language of iron and air.” — Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked and Lost

“Thank goodness for the flu, or I never would’ve had the time to properly luxuriate in this deliciously rapturous book! Sherman and Kushner are painters of great subtlety and sophistication, giving us a rich fantasy world where swordsmen and lady pirates seem every bit as believable as scholars. Sacred sexuality, drawing room politics, and mystical secrets all walk right into our hearts in the form of unforgettable characters. I enjoyed every page, every line, of this book.” — Cecilia Tan

“The Fall of the Kings tells a rich, intricate story, in which politics, passion, scholarship and magic are intriguingly entwined. It’s a triumphant return to a captivating country. I hope it receives the attention it merits.” — Elizabeth A. Lynn

“A delicious read, rich in character and dialogue; dark, sexy, and wickedly funny by turns. I loved it. You’ll love it too.” — Terri Windling

“This is how fantasy should be written. Kushner and Sherman write with grace, style, wit, and a delicious attention to detail. The Fall of the Kings is that rare thing these days; a novel that sweeps you in and lets you live the story with the characters.” — Lynn Flewelling

“This is a richly imagined tale in which attractive characters, realistically enmeshed in social, political, and personal concerns, must deal with the resurgence of ancient wizardry and royal divine right into a more rationalistic and modern political system…A sparkling job! Further adventures are eagerly awaited.” — Suzy M. Charnas

“I loved Swordspoint and its world. From Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, I expected brilliance and wit. I found it. I expected style and substance, and I found those too. I also found truth, love, hearts of fire, hearts of gold, and even a few hearts of substances less noble but even more interesting. The Fall of the Kings makes Swordspoint and its world even deeper and richer. I had astronomically high expectations for this book. It surpassed them all. Thanks for letting me share the joy that is this book.” — Caroline Stevermer

“The Fall of the Kings evokes a sumptuous (not wholly unfamiliar) world whose inhabitants, willing or not, must play out a blend of animal ritual and inky passion…Rife with suspense and hilarity, Kushner and Sherman’s magnificent pasquinade of kingship and scholarship should enchant anyone who has ever aspired to either.” — Elizabeth E. Wein

“What a wonderful book, beautifully written with marvellously magical moments. Reading it felt like seeing a stained glass window or a tapestry come to life, aself-contained story but clearly part of a larger history. It makes me feel very positive about what it’s possible to achieve within the fantasy genre.” — Jo Walton

“Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman are the true heirs of Dorothy Dunnett. Their characters are as likely to wield words as daggers, and The Fall of the Kings is as crammed with incident, intrigues both amorous and academic, swordfights and politics and magic, as any reader could hope for.” — Kelly Link

“A brilliant book, evocatively written.” — Sarah Ash

“The best-written fantasy novel of the year … This is a book of witty dialogue, prose as precise as a blow to the heart and as glittering as the sword that dealt it, gorgeous young men and women to suit any taste, hot and elegant sex to suit any sexual persuasion, magic with a true aura of numinous danger, thrilling fights, thrilling scholarly debates, old books, swashbuckling aunts, exquisite clothing, ancient rituals, hot chocolate, female pirates, erotic paintings, expensive jewelery, political intrigue, taverns, ghosts, true love, true kings, and a convincing demonstration of the importance of first sources in historical research..” — Green Man Review

“Elegantly written, rich with conversations, peopled with confused, misled, and sincere protagonists, this novel provides a rare experience of a richly conceived and incessantly surprising world. Every detail, from the holiday observations to the make of a man’s boots, seems exactly true, and completely believable. No small book could contain such rich complexity. This book is big enough to live in, and its readers will be glad to take it as their residence.” — Laurie J. Marks, SFRevu

“This is what Dickens or Eliot might have written, if they had written fantasy. Indeed, its connections seem strongest with the father of historical fiction, Sir Walter Scott … Go out now and buy The Fall of the Kings. Put it on your nightstand next to Swordspoint. When it’s been raining all day and you are bored beyond endurance, pick it up and enter a world as complicated as our own, and considerably more colorful. Just remember to take plenty of chocolate.” — StrangeHorizons.com

“The characters, fully developed and complex creations, are prisoners of their place in society, which makes them all the more interesting when they step out of their station in life. The Fall of the Kings is an experience not to be missed.” — The Best Reviews

“‘What is this book about?’ The Fall of the Kings is open to too many answers. Ultimately, it is about itself, about its richness and complexity, its passages of uncomfortable intensity and dream-laden mythic potency, its juxtapositions of substance and triviality, and about the resolution of where our arbitrary but rational reality meets the coherent and unreasonable legacy of the past. The reality in this case is that this is one of those very rare novels, especially in the fantasy genre, that is not only substantial, but unique. Tour de force? Most certainly.” — Rambles.net

“One of the top fantasies of the year.” — Emerald City

“This brilliant “sequel” to Kushner’s Swordspoint lays out a tale of passion burning too brightly amidst the political intrigues of academia and hidden history.” — Lambda

SWORDSPOINT

“Witty, sharp-eyed, full of interesting people and fascinating conversations… a delight.” — Newsday

“Swordspoint begins with a single drop of blood on a field of new-fallen snow, an image that burned itself forever into my mind the first time I encountered it. I can close my eyes and see it still. It’s a terrific opening, and unforgettable opening…and the book just gets better from there. It is long time past time that Swordspoint was back in print.” — George R.R. Martin

“Charming, exciting, and ironically provocative, rather as though Georgette Heyer had turned her hand to fantasy.” — Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn

“A scintillating gem … witty, wicked, fascinating, beautifully written, and unique.” — Joan D. Vinge, author of The Snow Queen

“An elegant, talented, and vastly enjoyable novel.” — Samuel R. Delany

“A many-faceted pleasure. It manages to evoke both the witty Regency romances of Georgette Heyer and the fog-shrouded, dangerous streets of fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar. At the same time there is a cutting edge to the plotting and characterization that marks Ellen Kushner as a writer with a distinctive voice of her own.” — Guy Gavriel Kay

“[Kushner] draws you through the story with such lucid, powerful writing that you come to trust her completely — and she doesn’t let you down … It’s the kind of trust that only a special kind of writer earns: the writer who has so fully realized the story’s world and characters, who has such perfect command of language and structure that the story never falters. Watch this woman — she’s going to be one of the great ones.” — Orson Scott Card

“A glorious thing, the book we might have had if Noel Coward had written a vehicle for Errol Flynn. It’s wicked and visual and witty, and it pulls you in like the doorman of a Bourbon Street bar.” — Gene Wolfe

“Ellen Kushner writes like an angel … pellucid, poetically structured prose [and] a gathering sense of tragic reality. I have not in some time read a better writer.” — Algis Budrys in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

“For all those lovers of Dumas, Baroness Orczy and Dorothy Dunnett … [with] Dickensian characters and ready wit … If you have even an ounce of interest in the interplay of sharp swords, and sharper tongues, then Swordspoint is for you.” — Charles de Lint

“[Kushner] draws you through the story with such lucid, powerful writing that you come to trust her completely — and she doesn’t let you down … It’s the kind of trust that only a special kind of writer earns: the writer who has so fully realized the story’s world and characters, who has such perfect command of language and structure that the story never falters. Watch this woman — she’s going to be one of the great ones.” — Orson Scott Card in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

“Intelligent, humorous and dramatic, with a fine, malicious feeling for the operation of gossip in a closed society.” — Publishers Weekly

“A bravura performance, a delight from start to finish.” — Locus

“A tale as witty, beguiling and ingenious as a collaboration between Jane Austen and John M. Harrison … a well-nigh faultless first novel.” — Interzone

“Kushner stirs her disparate elements well, persuasively drawing readers into this distinctive fantasy world.” — Booklist

“Sensuous … told with mannered style, this witty fairy tale for grown ups satisfies all the requirements for a grand escape.” — The Boston Herald

“Brilliantly written, exciting and a delight to read. [An] absorbing genre-bender … It should certainly appeal to lovers of intelligent fantasy … Her writing is clear, fluid and beautiful, with wonderful dialogue… Swordspoint is both moving and witty, a rare combination … I didn’t want it to end.” — Aboriginal SF

“Colourful, exciting, and packed with action.” — The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

“What Swordspoint does is to take up themes essential to the literature of outsiders: the deceptiveness of appearances, the anguish and bravado of alienation, and, perhaps most important, the challenges that face anyone who crosses borders, geographical, cultural, or economic … Swordspoint is a tour de force, as riddled with feints and parries as a duel … rich with nuance and subtle shifts … Ellen Kushner ably delivers what her first chapter promises: a world deceptively familiar yet deeply unlike our own. Readers who listen carefully, who resist the temptation to impose their values on these vividly realized characters, will be amply rewarded.” — Wavelengths

“An unforgettable book … [with] memorable characters, and levels of meaning lurking just beneath a seemingly simple storyline.” — FolkTales

“A brilliant adult fairytale set in a fantasy Renaissance-like world. A fascinating story of political intrigue and the romance between a swordsman-for-hire and his lover, a young scholar. An excellent read.” — Lambda

THOMAS THE RHYMER

“Nobody is writing more elegant and gorgeous English these days than Ellen Kushner. Her books ought to be given to writing classes as texts on how the English language can be made so pure and cold and clear that you long to drink it down … Is there anything this writer can’t do well?” — Orson Scott Card in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

“What a perfectly splendid story, splendidly told, with great style and orginality. A bow of deep appreciation to Ms. Kushner, and my gratitude!” — Anne McCaffrey

“A book to introduce those who know nothing of the ballads to their rich and deep content…and intrigue those already familiar with them.” — Maddy Prior, lead singer for Steeleye Span

“Lyrically written and humanly moving. Ellen Kushner’s treatment of the True Thomas legend is worthy to rank with those of Kipling and Cabell.” — Poul Anderson

“Lovingly crafted, beautifully wrought — a jewel of a book. Ellen Kushner is one of the best of the new fantasy writers.” — Judith Tarr

“An earthy, witty, even mildly erotic book, as convincing in its depiction of faerie passion and prejudice as in its descriptions of the narrowly focused life of the Middle Ages.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“A happy blend of discreet scholarship and literary style … Kushner creates a lavish microcosm where riddles and runes and magical transformations govern.” — Publishers Weekly

“Studded with adulterous noblemen, promiscuous courtiers and sensuous love scenes, the old fairy tale takes in a ribald contemporary feel under Kushner’s pen, which paradoxically is truer to the story’s original pre-Victorian bawdiness.” — The Boston Herald

“Elegant and cozy. Witty and wise. Innocent and sensuous and, at times, downright sexy. Kushner’s Thomas the Rhymer does it all.” — Jane Yolen

“What might seem all quaint, all harps, houppelandes, elf mounds and aristocracy, takes on a very human immediacy in Kushner’s skilled treatment…Richly imagined scenes if Faerie, elegant and incongruous as the films of Cocteau. Kushner’s elves seek out humankind with a near-vampire hunger and a bittersweet desire. Bu the end of Thomas the Rhymer we understand the attraction mortals hold for them.” — Locus

“Thomas the Rhymer is the real thing. It belongs on the same shelf with Lord Dunsany, James Branch Cabell, James Stephens, E.R. Eddison, Ursula K. Le Guin, and the rest.” — Aboriginal Science Fiction

“If you were afraid that Kushner’s first novel, Swordspoint, was a flash in the pan, you can stop worrying. Thomas the Rhymer . . . stopped me in my tracks. Few books are this good! If you read fantasy at all, don’t miss this one; Kushner is setting up to be one of the most important fantasists alive!” — Locus

“Her Thomas takes on the life which the old ballads so often deny him and . . . really touches the heart.” — Andre Norton

“Evocative, stirring, filled with life and color . . . lets us live for a while in those magical countries we’ve never seen but that we always knew must exist somwhere.” — Lisa Goldstein

“A charming book, full of wit, imagination, the spikey sweetness of young love and the polished grain of old . . . more please!” — Suzy McKee Charnas

“Splendid . . . touching and tender . . . there is great technical skill in the way Kushner recreates the lyrical atmosphere of a folk tale … ” — Interzone

“Relaxed and flowing, poetry counterpointing wit . . . It has a phantasmagorical quality . . . the enchantment is underpinned with tension and urgency . . . a tour de force . . . will surely endear itself to any who love old ballads, whiffs of faerie, and fine fantasy.” — New York Review of Science Fiction

“[This] inspired fantasy . . . rings true and deep as tales told for generations [and] reveals unexpected worlds and times, and the far reaches of the human heart. Ellen Kushner knows what it’s like to be a human in Elfland, and Elf-touched in Middle-Earth, and by the end of this novel, her readers do too.” — Susanna J. Sturgis, The Martha’s Vineyard Times

“Ellen Kushner has discovered a new and poetic way to retell the old tale. The book reads with the story-telling power of the old ballad.” — The Times (London)


Alan on the secrets of the Twin Cities

Tue 29 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Not all of them, not at once. Not once, not twice. Some secrets, no twins. Some city, some paper.
Alan DeNiro‘s story “The Fourth” can be read at The Rake‘s site. By chance he is reading tonight at Haven of Dreams Books in the Thin Cities. Twin Cities. Those cities. Your cities? One city split by a river? No. Twin cities.

Go see him read, see him fulminate, see him change the world as he reads.


Harlan Ellison: eejit

Mon 28 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

This can’t go on.

Gwenda points to

the chatter that Harlan Ellison groped Connie Willis (scroll to 3) — sans permission, natch, as the verb groping more or less implies — on stage during the Hugos.

Why was there no groping in Glasgow? Kim Newman and Paul McAuley would have been far less disturbing (and funnier), I’m sure.

But seriously, I think this news is going to remind a lot of us of a certain ICFA banquet gone terribly wrong. It must stop.

Worldcon: sorry, the eejit has put you on the spot and a public statement is needed.
What’s up with these dirty old men? They’re taking all the fun out of being in the genre and not inspiring anyone with anything but horror and the urge to vomit and throw out their books.
No matter how Connie Willis feels (bemused? horrified?), Ellison needs to be censured. And/or, of course, never again invited to any public event where there are women.

Best Cousin

Sun 27 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

StorytellerCongratulations to all last night’s Hugo Award winners (win your own French writer!) especially Kate Wilhelm, whose book Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop won the Hugo for Best Related Book. Storyteller also won the Locus Award a couple of months ago. That’s pretty amazing. The little book that could and all that.

Kate was one of the co-founders of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop — of which there are now three: Clarion East (Michigan), Clarion West (Seattle), and Clarion South (Australia) — and taught there for 27 years (hence the book title!). She is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Clarion Foundation, a nonprofit organization she helped establish in 2005 to ensure that the Clarion Workshop will continue. It’s a lovely book, formal where it needs to be (while writing about writing) and informal where it can be — the fun parts.

There were a couple of fun parts about publishing the book — the first was reading it over and over (as well as the usual editing and so forth the book had to be retyped!) and thinking about the book and the lessons within; and the second was hearing from readers who took different things from the book. “Yes — it was like that!” “Ah, that’s the secret.” “Huh.” “Six weeks sounds like a long time.” “Bum on the seat every morning….” “Wonder if I could go.” “What a laugh.” Kate’s been writing for a long time and has readers all over the map so it’s not just Clarion alumni and haters (hello!) who’ve been reading it.

Anyway, if you want a taste there are three excerpts available online:

  1. Can Writing Be Taught?
  2. Trivia Vs. Writing Real Stories now available at the Online Writing Workshop.
  3. My Silent Partner at SF Site.

Again with the congratulations to all and sundry winners and as ever those who didn’t get a rocket know it’s an honor to be nominated. Those who weren’t nominated: eh, what you gonna do? (Go see the lumberjack competition at a local fair or brave the cold rain(!) at the tomato fest.)


The Friday Rock Show

Fri 25 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Google leads to 87.9 somewhere a couple of months ago where a guy named Alex put together a show of live tracks and included the Sisters of Mercy playing Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” (starts at about 37.5 minutes [99MB file]).

Long ago there was a break-in at Small Beer central and someone removed our UniVac Central Computational System which included a copy of this song. (Hope they enjoyed it.) Since then there have been occasional looks for it on the web but nothing serious. Now it is Ours, Ours again. Before that? Someone else had it in a shared flat sometime in the late eighties. Someone, somewhere.
El DJ man also plays The Stranglers, Joy Division, OMD, The Smiths, Gang of Four, Toyah, Dead Kennedys, Nirvana, and ends it with Depeche Mode’s last song from their sold out show at the Pasadena Rose Bowl! (he says) in 1988.

Title? Radio 1 show on, yes, Friday night.


Year’s Best arriving at platform 19

Fri 25 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Arrived today (or so), the latest YB 19edition of the editing gig that eats years as appetizers, The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror: 2006. This one has stories from Isabel Allende, Robert Coover, etc. Full table of contents here, but you’ll have to tramp to the bookshop (or make the bookshop come to you) if you want to look at the Honorable Mentions or read the short and flighty Summation of the year in fantasy.
Other new books have been arriving around here, so there should be more pix of them at some point.

We’ve been running around (Hello Nantucket, yay!) and we’re going to add some more dates to Kelly’s calendar soon (hello Iowa City).

Congrats to Gwenda, who is right now out looking for a new schoolbag.

Also: The LA Times is the latest to run Hillel Italie’s AP story on Kelly. Wow. (Thanks Andrew, Google, etc!)

See, this thing ain’t no blog. It ain’t no journal. It’s a Site History. Or, A Spectacular Compendium of Companionable Pieces. (Links?)


Alan, Ellen, Condor

Fri 18 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

Worried about stagflation? Glaciation? Decapitation? Save your head and the global economy (can’t do much about global warming*) by getting multiple copies of Alan DeNiro‘s Book Sense Pick, Harvard Book Shop Select Seventy Pick, etc., etc:

SKINNY DIPPING IN THE LAKE OF THE DEAD: Stories, by Alan DeNiro “This is a great debut collection of loopy, off-the-wall, and still-somehow-packing-emotional-weight stories; DeNiro can weld words into some mighty strange configurations.”
–Caleb Wilson, Davis-Kidd Booksellers, Nashville, TN

Quick interview with Julie Phillips (have some rougher stuff that might post later — this was meant to be a longer interview, but ran out of time after the simple stuff).

Keep up with Ellen Kushner’s schedule (the hardcover is at the printer — more news when we have it). Good review of The Privilege of the Sword over at Green Man Review. If you’re in NYC, don’t miss Ellen et al at Shriek: the Movie Event.

Green Man Review also provides one of the first reviews of the Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror: 2006. More on this, too, when we see it!

Kelly is reading this Sunday on Nantucket. Doesn’t look like she will be at Worldcon next weekend — hope it’s a blast and that Anaheim gets to show off its hidden depths.
* A lie. Brought to you by G.W.Bush & Co. Ask Joe Turner from Three Days of the Condor what it’s all about.


home

Thu 17 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

Home-ish. Sort of. Back in the office after a trip to Minneapolis and NYC. Photos may appear if the downloading thingy can be worked. (Unlikely anytime soon. If you would like to hold your breath until this happens, feel free. If you would like to come over and download the things: Away! To speak to a human customer service agent, please press Control-Alt(or Apple)-Delete on your keyboard.)

It had been a while since we’d been to DreamHaven Books — wow. And woe-is-me because it is so far away. Happily they send is their monthly catalog but being there is an inspiring experience. So many good books to read! (And they have copies of zines like Say… and JPPN.) Kelly read there (with Bryan, see next) on Thursday night to a standing room only crowd. We also managed to get to Wild Rumpus (a bookshop with chickens), the Wedge (a huuuge coop: local, baby, local!), and some good eateries, as well as visit the Diane Arbus exhibit at the Walker and meet the Rain Taxiers….
Diversicon is a lovely convention — readers and writers (in the Midwest especially) should go if possible. It’s sort of in the same headspace as WisCon, smaller, but smart people talking about interesting things. Bryan Thao Worra, the Special Guest, is a suave, smart poet (download a pdf chapbook, Monstro) and activist whose writing is as funny as he is. He gave a great presentation on mysterious places in Laos (so says Alan — we saw the preview). Books were sold (yay!), the Mall of America was avoided (uh huh!), and a couple of trips into the Twin Cities were made. The hotel, a Holiday Inn Select (selected for oddness?) was just weird — hear that hoteliers? we will seek revenge! Petty revenge, at that. Reservation? Nope. Uh. Help? Maybe. Buggers. Fortunately the con folks had all the info at their fingertips (even when woken after midnight (sorry Rick!) — it really did take the hotel a while to get us in a room). Who cares?

Elizabeth Bear and Bill Shunn read at KGB, fantastic fiction was read, fantastic food at Grand Sichaun was had, and loud music was sung along to on the way home.

Let’s see: Beginning. yes, did that. Middle? Sort of. End? Uh, no. Maybe next time.


Off to Diversicon

Tue 8 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

Doesn’t Diversicon have a nice musical tone to it? Di-versy-chorus-versy-con. Say hi if you’re there (that would be in Minneapolis). Kelly will be reading at DreamHaven early Thursday evening, then off to the convention the next day with Goblinmercantileexchange and 32degrees. Or Kristin and Alan.


World Fantasy Noms

Sun 6 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Nominations for the World Fantasy Award are out. Congrats to all the nominees, including Kelly Link whose collection, Magic for Beginners and her novella of the same name are up.

It’s a refreshing list with tons of good stuff on it. Wonder if H. Murakami will make it to the convention?

Speaking of Murakami (poor segues, the first sign of blogarrhea?), just read the Cloverfield Press edition of his story “Tony Takitani” (trans by Jay Rubin). Ordered it at AWP in March and even though it came a little while ago it somehow never managed to crawl near the top of the unending reading pile until now. First the book: it’s a beautifully made and designed objets d’fetish (no page numbers!).  The story, originally published in The New Yorker, is one of Murakami’s restrained wonders. It’s a soft, lonely story of art, marriage, and a Fitgeraldian quantity of dresses all in a lovely little edition.

Another beautiful thing that came to hand while tidying is The Monkeynauts, a nonfiction zine (as typed by bombo the monkey) about some of the monkeys who went (were sent) to space. It’s a series of incredible, thought-provoking stories — one monkey who, upon being rescued from his landing capsule, ran around ecstatically shaking everyone’s hands…! And again with the beautifully made thing. Got this one in a small stack from the catastrophe shop, a great resource for minicomics. (Because Quimby’s Atomic, Million Year Picnic, etc. aren’t enough??)


Moved in. Made a flick. Huge stars now.

Fri 4 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Made a move that was meant to happen ages ago thanks to Michael here and Brianna and Josh at Utopian.

Lazy Sunday, it’s not, but Friday afternoons are a no-go area for work in publishing (try calling your editor, they’re at the beach). We’re not at the beach, but now it’s getting cooler (right?) we are outside in the sun. Jolly weekending chums.

Flickity film: Watch out for heatstroke.


Drop

Thu 3 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

We have a bunch of signed books in stock. And some pressures prices have dropped. Just saying.


Happy Birthday Douglas!

Thu 3 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Happy Birthday Douglas!

– John Scalzi (who earlier interviewed Alan) puts Ellen Kushner to the sword in a very good interview.

– Locus picked Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead for their Notable Books: “Deeply weird, sometimes challenging, but always smart and affecting.” Yes indeedy.

– Also: “Endlessly imaginative,” says Venus magazine.

– Local pop stars The Fawns have a new CD out, A Nice Place to Be. They had a launch gig the other night at The Elevens in Northampton (they’re playing next on Saturday, August 26, for free at The Basement). Delightful, funny, smart, what’s not to like? Poptastic. Makes a good break in between the Tilly and the Wall CDs. Pop for it! While that is in the mail to you, why not listen to their firstlCD, Smiling. Wonder if they’d go over well at Wiscon?


Alchemy 3 (Rest of the World 0)

Tue 1 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Added the third and final issue of the rather wonderful Alchemy magazine to the other shopping page.

Alchemy 3Alchemy, from Edgewood Press, is a well designed and edited perfect bound magazine that paid top dollar for stories, cover art, and printing. The contributors to the third issue are: Frances Hardinge, Tara Kolden, Hannah Wolf Bowen, Theodora Goss, Sonya Taafe, Sarah Monette, Beth Adele Long (2 stories!), and Timothy Williams. The stories come from across the whole range of fantasy with the high quality of the writing being the only common factor. Sarah Monette’s comfortable stretch, “The Seance at Chisholm End”, to one of Sonya Taafe’s most accessible pieces, “Like the Stars and the Sand.” Beth Adele Long provides a little experimentation with voice, Hannah Bowen gets bloody-handed, and Frances Hardinge takes readers on a really fantastic ride. Timothy Williams provides the spookiest story with a Kentucky exploration of “The Hollows”, although Theodora Goss’s “Letter from Budapest” is almost right up there with a story of an inescapable artist. Damn shame this magazine never saw better distribution. You can pick it up for $7 an issue (including shipping) or there are mini-deals for more copies.

– Also deleted Urban Pantheist 3, sorry about that Michael. Now only the 4th issue left.


Howard Who?

Tue 1 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Books, Peapod Classics| Posted by: Gavin

2006 · trade paper · 9781931520188 / ebook
2nd printing May 2021

Read the award-winning The Ugly Chickens. Watch the trailer.

“Italo Calvino once said that he was ‘known as an author who changes greatly from one book to the next. And in these very changes you recognize him as himself.’ Much the same could be said of Howard Waldrop. You never know what he’ll come up with next, but somehow it’s always a Waldrop story. Read the work of this wonderful writer, a man who has devoted his life to his art—and to fishing.”
—Michael Dirda, Washington Post

Introduction by George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire): “If this is your first taste of Howard, I envy you. Bet you can’t read just one.”

The third entry in our Peapod Classics reprint line is a twentieth-anniversary celebration edition of Howard Waldrop’s erudite, gonzo, wistful, funny, and beautifully written debut collection of short stories.

Waldrop has a capacious, encyclopedic knowledge of superheroes, baseball players, Mexican wrestlers, world wars, long-dead film stars, oddball television shows, pulp serials, radio plays, fairy tales, scientific expeditions, extinct species, and knock-knock jokes.

  • What if the dodo wasn’t extinct after all?
  • What if sumo wrestlers could defeat their opponents with the power of the mind?
  • What if Izaak Walton and John Bunyan went fishing for Leviathan in the Slough of Despond?

Acclaimed cult author Waldrop’s stories are sophisticated, magical recombinations of the stuff our pop-culture dreams are made of. Open this book and encounter jazz singers, robotic cartoon ducks, nosferatu, angry gorillas, and, of course, the dodo.

Never published in paperback, long out of print, and extremely collectible, Howard Who? was Waldrop’s amazing debut collection. If you haven’t read Waldrop before, you’re in for a treat.

Table of Contents
Introduction by George R. R. Martin.
The Ugly Chickens
Der Untergang des Abendlandesmenschen
Ike at the Mike
Dr. Hudson’s Secret Gorilla
. . . the World, as we Know’t
Green Brother
Mary Margaret Road-Grader
Save A Place in the Lifeboat for Me
Horror, We Got
Man-Mountain Gentian
God’s Hooks
Heirs of the Perisphere

“Back in print after so many years, Howard Who? remains a terrific collection of short stories. There is nobody else alive writing stories as magnificently strange, deliriously inventive, and utterly wonderful as Howard Waldrop.”
— Metrobeat

Links

Praise for Howard Waldrop:
“Clever, humorous, idiosyncratic, oddball, personal, wild, and crazy.”
— Library Journal

“Wise and funny.”
— Publishers Weekly

“An authentic master of gonzo sf and fantasy.”
— Booklist

“Erudite and gonzo.”
— Science Fiction Weekly

“Waldrop subtly mutates the past, extrapolating the changes into some of the most insightful, and frequently amusing, stories being written today, in or out of the science fiction genre.”
— The Houston Post/Sun

” The man’s a national treasure!”
— Locus

“The resident Weird Mind of his generation, he writes like a honkytonk angel.”
— Washington Post Book World

About the Author:

Howard Waldrop, born in Mississippi and now living in Austin, Texas, is an American iconoclast. His highly original books include Them Bones and A Dozen Tough Jobs, and the collections All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past, Night of the Cooters, and Going Home Again. He won the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards for his novelette “The Ugly Chickens.”

George R.R. Martin is the author of the bestselling Song of Ice and Fire series of novels. His fiction has won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy Award, Stoker, and Locus Awards. He worked on the TV shows The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Credits

Publication history

First published as Howard Who? Twelve Outstanding Stories of Speculative Fiction by Doubleday in 1986.

Also by Howard Waldrop:

Novels

The Texas-Israeli War: 1999 with Jake Saunders (1974)
Them Bones (1984)

Collections

Howard Who? (1986, 2006)
All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past: Neat Stories (1987)
Night of the Cooters: More Neat Stories (1990)
Going Home Again (1997)
Custer’s Last Jump and Other Collaborations (2003)
Heart of Whitenesse (2005)
Things Will Never Be the Same: A Howard Waldrop Reader: Selected Short Fiction 1980-2005 (2007)
Other Worlds, Better Lives: Selected Long Fiction, 1989-2003 (2008)
Horse of a Different Color (2013)

Chapbooks

A Dozen Tough Jobs (1989)
A Better World’s in Birth (2003)

Nonfiction

Dream Factories and Radio Pictures (2003)

Forthcoming

I, John Mandeville
The Moon World
Moving Waters


Pop! The sound of a mind exploding.

Mon 31 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

– Review of Alan DeNiro’s collection at Strange Horizons. Pop! The sound of a mind exploding. [Note: Here’s the wince inducingly-named Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.]

– Also, an interesting story, “The Women of Our Occupation” by Kameron Hurley. (Thanks to Gwenda for pushing the story.) Which, with the wonders of the web, looks like this once it goes through Regender.com.

– It’s the last day of July. Celebrate! Or, dig a hole and hide underground from the heatttt.


Brudders of der Head

Fri 28 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Check our email announcement list for some more news. Especially about “Brothers of the Head” which is a dark, elegant film about a proto punk band formed around a pair conjoined twins. Opens in NYC and LA Friday.


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